15 49.0138 8.38624 both 0 bullet 0 4000 1 0 horizontal https://www.messynessychic.com 300 4000

Category / Don’t Be A Tourist

Country Bumpkin Lane in Paris

Okay, so that’s not its real name, but they should just call this place what it really is– a countryside paradise in the heart of Paris. A zippy ten minutes from the Eiffel Tower on my mobilette and I had putt-putted my way to Pernety in the 14th arrondissement, a very family-orientated neighbourhood with lots…

My Secret Champs Elysées Garden

At some point or another every Parisian has an errand to run on the Champs Élysées, as much as they despise its hellish high street hum and tawdry tourist tat. And like every Parisian that likes to claim his or her “coins“, or corners of solace around the city, this Parisienne is claiming a little…

The Clandestine Paris Party Planners with a taste for the Abandoned

So, there’s planning a party and then there’s planning a party in a secret abandoned location– in Paris! You’re about to delve into the world of the most unique underground party organisers in the world… A secretive group called We are the Oracle has surfaced in the French capital in recent years, throwing once in…

My Little Secret Montmartre

This is not Montmartre, the cupcake hilltop village of Paris where Miss Amélie Poulain resides. Today we escape to a different corner of the city in the 20th arrondissement with just as much charm and just as many steps. Upon first discovering it, my faithful walking companion duly declared, “It’s like a little Montmartre!” So…

HOW TO DO PARIS LIKE A LOCAL

… and pretending like you really give a – okay okay fine, some people do, I get it. But instead of browsing dead people’s art (hope I’m not coming across as insensitive to the art world or anything), why not take advantage of the fact that hey, you’re alive, and probably capable of being creative…

Summer Camp at Chernobyl

For as far back as Google’s records go, the search word “Chernobyl” has never trended higher. In the past month, the data graph has spiked like a reading on a level 5 earthquake. Of course, it’s all down to HBO’s Chernobyl, which after only one month on air, has become the highest-rated television series of all…

Penetrating the Paris Catacombs: Level One

We were told to dress in inconspicuous clothing, wear sturdy boots and gloves, bring food supplies, an ID in case of arrest and a rosary in case of the unimaginable. We met our host to the underworld whose name will remain Mr. X, at a location I can’t reveal. And down the rabbit hole we went … As…

The Asylum That Gave Lou Reed Electroshock Therapy Is Also an Unforgettable Art Museum

“Excuse me!” says a man by a snowed-in dumpster. “Excuse me,” he continues, in a teleprompted tone, “Where are you, excuse me, goodnight!” It’s 2pm at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens. I tell him I’m lost, and pull out a map of the 300 acres where he is a patient, and where I’m late…

And what if they’d built New York like this?

You might have noticed that for the cover of our second book, Don’t be a Tourist in New York, I chose to feature uptown’s Little Red Lighthouse. It’s the only one left on the island of Manhattan, but serves as a reminder that New York was first a port before anything else. “A city of…

Brooklyn’s Revolutionary Social Club

On a quiet street in Brooklyn, lies a very peculiar treasure chest. It safeguards the boots of Mexican revolutionaries, and the sound bites of rebels; it collects buttons, posters, and anything upon which one could scrawl a grassroots manifesto. It’s New York City’s “Interference Archive,” and it’s the volunteer-based library, gallery, and archive for tools…

NEWER POSTS 1 … 64 65 66 … 121 OLDER POSTS